Hydraulic steering gear for ships



April 28, 1953 P. J. NOORDEMAN HYDRAULIC STEERING GEAR FOR SHIPS FiledOct. 5, 1951 mm m AWN 7/A/7////////// |NVENTOR PIETER J.. NOORDEMAN BY MATTORNEYS patentecl Apr. 28, 1 953 OFFICE HYDRAULIC STEERING GEAR FORSHIPS Pieter Jacobus Noordeman, Rotterdam,

' Netherlands Application October 3, 1951, Serial No. 249,423

The present invention relates to hydraulicships steering gear of thekind wherein a hydraulic pump operates to deliver liquid under pressureto rams which actuate the rudder.

A hydraulic steering gear of this type has been proposed, for instancein the applicants copending U. S. application Serial No. 765,060 of July31, 1947, now issued as Patent 2,572,749, dated October 23, 1951,comprising in combination steering means for controlling the rudder of avessel, 2. first hydraulic system associated with said steering meansfor moving the same in a first direction, a second hydraulic systemoperable for moving said steering means in an opposite direction,pumping means for supplying actuating fluid to either of said hydraulicsystems, and yielding means interposed between said hydraulic systemsand arranged, in response to accidental increase in pressure in eitherof said systems, to temporarily increase the volume capacity of thesystem in which the accidental increase occurs.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved shipssteering gear of the kind referred to, which, on the one hand, is moresimple and robust in construction and, on the other hand, isparticularly adapted to be constructed in a manner to permit thehydraulic steering operation in emergency cases to be replaced by handsteering in accordance with the official requirements in this respect.

. To attain this object the present invention provides a hydraulicsteering mechanism for vessels comprising in combination, steering meansassociated with the rudder shaft for controlling the rudder of thevessel, a pair of hydraulic motor systems respectively pivotallyconnected to spaced points of said steerin means, reversible pumpingmeans for selectively supplying actuating fluid to either of saidhydraulic motor systems, means for controlling said pumping means toeffect movements of the rudder by either one or the other of said motorsystems and said steering means, and means associated with said steeringmeans for returning said pumping means to inoperative position afterdeflection of the rudder, said steering means being freely movable withrespect to said rudder shaft and being connected thereto by elasticmeans resiliently transmitting the movements of said steering means tosaid rudder shaft and vice-versa.

Further characteristic features of my invention will be aparent from thehereafter following description in which reference is had to theaccompanying drawing illustrating a preferred 7 Claims. (01. 114-446)such embodiment partially in section, certain.

embodiment of my improved hydraulic ships steering gear.

-' In this drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of parts being broken away forthe sake of clearness.

Fig. 2 shows on an enlarged scale a bottom view of the steering meansassociated with the rudder shaft and comprising elastic shock absorbingmeans.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail View of the means transmittingthe movements of the hydraulic rams to said steering means.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, 1 indicates a rudder shafthaving freely rotatably mounted thereon a toothed quadrant 2 andcarrying immediately underneath such quadrant a fixed arm 3 radiallyprojecting from said shaft I and having at its free end connectedthereto, respectively from below and above, and through the medium oftrunnions 4 of which only one is shown in Fig. 2, the ends of twohelical blade springs 5 and 6 respectively, the other ends of suchsprings being anchored to the under side of the quadrant by pins 7 and8, secured at said quadrant in points on either side of the axis of therudder shaft and equally spaced therefrom.

As shown in Fig. 1, the yoke-shaped body 9 of the quadrant 2 has formedtherein two substantially radial grooves or slots 10 open at their outerend, each of said grooves containing a bar ll of rectangular crosssection held down in said groove by a clamp 12 bolted to the upper faceof the body 9. The bars I l have a sliding fit in said grooves H] butare normally secured therein by a screw bolt 13 passing through said barand screwed into the body 9 from above, so that, after unscrewing saidscrew bolts, the bars H may be lengthwise withdrawn from their groovesif so desired. The portions of the bars H radially projecting from thegrooves, each slidably pass through a diametrically extending passage Mof rectangular cross section and formed in a circular block It withvertically extending axis and having coaxial trunnions l6 and IT,mounted for rotation in the respective lower and upper shanks l8, l9 ofa forked cross head member 20, said-shanks to this end each being formedin the manner of the marine end of a connecting rod as shown in detailin Fig. 3.

The heads 20 are each slidably mounted in four guide ways 2 I joinedtogether to form a box like frame 22 having horizontal flanges 23 forsecuring said frame to a floor by bolts 24 as shown in Fig. 1. At theirlongitudinal side walls, said frames are each formed with a lengthwiseextending slot 25 through which pass the projecting portions of the barsI l.

The forked cross heads 20 are each formed at the end of a ram 26operating in a cylinder 21 formed integrally with the respectivebox-like frame 22, one end of said cylinders being cohnected by aconduit 28 to a reversible liquid supplying pump 29 of a type known perse, preferably a Hele-Shaw pump, with variable output, said pump beingpermanently driven by an electro motor 39 and comprising controllingmeans (not shown) actuated by a rod 3! which at 32 is pivotallyconnected to a lever 33. At 34 such lever is pivotally connected to apiston rod 35 of a piston 36 working in a cylinder 31 having pressurefluid supply conduits 38 and 39, such assembly constituting the wellknown telemotor to be operated from the bridge of the ship.

The opposite end of the two armed lever 33 is pivotally connected at 48to a rod which in turn is pivotally connected at 6,2 to a verticalprojection 43 on the upper face of the body 9 of the toothed quadrant 2.

The mechanism so far described constitutes the novel hydraulic shipssteering gear of which the operation will be hereinafter described.Associated with such hydraulic steering gear I provide an emergency handsteering gear diagrammatically shown in Fig. l and comprising a steeringwheel id mounted on a shaft 45 journalled in a pedestal 45, which isbolted to a floor at a level somewhat above that of the hydraulicsteering gear.

The shaft 45 carries a worm ll slidably but non-rotatably mountedthereon and being held in a substantially central position on said shaftby two helical springs 28 surrounding said shaft on either side of saidworm and resting on the one hand against said worm and on the other handagainst the inner face of the respective shaft bearings 4-9 and 56respectively, so that the worm is capable of automatic resilientadjustment, all in a manner known per se.

The worm l? meshes with a worm wheel 5i secured to the upper end of avertical shaft 52, mounted for rotation in said pedestal 45 and passingthrough the fioor to the level of the hydraulic steering gear, where itis journalled in a step bearing 53 secured to the floor on which thehydraulic steering gear is mounted at a point somewhat spaced from thetoothed circumferential face of the quadrant 2. The vertical shaft 52has a longitudinal key groove 54 formed therein for slidably butnon-rotatably mounting on said shaft a pinion 55 adapted to mesh withthe teeth 56 of said quadrant, said pinion normally being held in anelevated position in which it is disengaged from the teeth 56, by meansof a forked hand lever 51 straddling the shaft 5! beneath said pinion 55and being pivotally mounted at 58 in a fixed bracket 59. In the positionshown, the free arm of the lever 5'! having a handle 6:), is held by apin 81 passing through said arm and entering a hole 62 in an arm 63projecting from said bracket. By removing the pin from this hole, thepinion 55 may be permitted to descend by gravity into its lower oroperating position in which it is in mesh with the quadrant 2.

During normal operation, the elements of the steering gear are in theposition shown in Fig. ,1, i. e. the bars H are secured in place intheir grooves Iii by the screw bolts 13 and the pinion 55 is disengagedfrom the quadrant 2.

In this condition, by activating the telemotor 35, 36, the lever 33, inone or the other direction depending on the required adjustment of therudder, is swung about the pivot 40 constituting the stationary fulcrumat this timeand thereby displaces the rod 3! to adjust the controllingmeans of the pump '29 for causing said pump to supply pressure liquid toone or the other of the ram cylinders 27, the other cylinder beingevacuated. This causes the two rams 26 to be displaced in oppositedirections. such movement, through the medium of the forked cross heads28, blocks I5, and bars H, being transformed into an angular movement ofthe quadrant 2 about the shaft i which movement through the helicalsprings 55 and 6 and arm 3 is resiliently transmitted to the ruddershaft I for actuating the rudder, the slidable and at the same timepivotal connection of the bars H with the cross heads 25 permitting suchangular movement of the quadrant with respect to said heads. The angulardisplacement of thequadrant 2, through the medium of the rod 43' and thelever causes the control element of the pump to be restored to neutralposition.

If in any position of the rudder, the same is hit by a heavy sea, theresultant shock in the steering gear is immediately and adequatelyabsorbed by the helical springs 5 and 6 thereby preventing breakage. Inthis respect it may be observed, that the transmission of the steeringimpulses to the rudder shaft through a freely rotatable quadrant havingshock absorbing springs connecting such quadrant to a steering armsecured on said rudder shaft is known per se in the case of other shipssteering systems, so that the invention more particularly resides in theuse of such quadrant in a hydraulic steering mechanism, whereby suchhydraulic steering gear is raised to a scientifically justifledconstruction.

More particularly the application of such quadrant enables the hydraulicsteering gear to be provided with simple emergency hand steer-v ingmeans normally inoperative but adapted to be quickly and easily put incondition for replacing the hydraulic gear if for some reason or othersuch hydraulic gear is unfit for use.

To this end, the screw bolts 13, normally securing the bars H inposition in the grooves Iii, are removed enabling the bars to belengthwise withdrawn from the grooves to thereby break the connectionbetween the quadrant 2 and the heads 2-33 of the hydraulic rams. At thesame time, by removing the pin iii from the hole 62 the hand lever 51 isunlocked permitting the pinion 55 to descend and engage the teeth of thequadrant 2 so that now the quadrant and thereby the rudder shaft may beoperated by hand through the steering wheel 44.

From the above it will be apparent that the present invention provides asimple and reliable hydraulic steering mechanism incorporating veryrobust shock absorbing means and complying in a very simple manner tothe demand,

that hand steering means shall be provided to replace the hydraulicsteering in case of emergencies.

While I have described my invention in detail in a certain embodiment,to enable it to be prop erly understood, it will be obvious for thoseskilled in the art, that variouschanges and modifications may be madetherein, without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A hydraulic steering mechanism for vessels comprising in combination;steering means associated with the rudder shaft for controlling therudder of the vessel, a pair of hydraulic motor systems respectivelypivotally connected to spaced points of said steering means, reversiblepumping means for selectively supplying actuating fluid to either ofsaid hydraulic motor systems, means controlling said pumping means toeffect movements of the rudder through either of said motor systems andsaid steering means, and means associated with said steering meansoperable to return said pumping means to inoperative position afterdeflection of the rudder, said steering means being rotatable withrespect to said rudder shaft and elastic means connecting said steeringmeans to said rudder shaft for resiliently transmitting the movements ofsaid steering means to said rudder shaft and vice-versa.

2. A hydraulic steering mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidsteering means is rotatable about an axis coinciding with the axis ofthe rudder shaft.

3. A hydraulic steering mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidsteering means is in the form of a yoke, loosely mounted for rotation onsaid rudder shaft, an arm fixed to said rudder r shaft, and said elasticmeans comprising helical springs connected between the opposite ends ofsaid yoke and the outer end of said arm.

4. A hydraulic steering mechanism for vessels comprising in combination;steering means associated with the rudder shaft for controlling therudder of the vessel, a pair of hydraulic motor systems respectivelypivotally releasably con nected to spaced points of said steering means,reversible pumping means for selectively supplying actuating fluid toeither of said hydraulic motor systems, means controlling said pumpingmeans to effect movements of the rudder through either of said motorsystems and said steering means and means releasably associated withsaid steering means operable to return said pumping means to inoperativeposition after deflection of the rudder, said steering means beingmovable with respect to said rudder shaft and there being spring meansresiliently urging the steering means and the rudder shaft toward apredetermined relative position for transmitting power therebetween,hand operated emergency steering gear being provided adapted to be putin condition for engaging said steering means for effecting control ofsaid rudder after said steering means has been disconnected from saidhydraulic motor systems and said pump returning means.

5. A hydraulic steering mechanism as claimed in claim 4, wherein saidsteering means is in the form of a toothed quadrant, mounted forrotation on said rudder shaft, said hand operated emergency steeringgear comprising a pinion normally disengaged from said quadrant andadapted to be engaged therewith at will.

6. A hydraulic steering mechanism as claimed in claim 4. characterisedby said steering means being provided with oppositely directed rod-likeprojections, cross heads actuated by said hydraulic motor systems inwhich said projections are mounted for combined swinging and slidingmovement, said projections being connected to said steering means bymeans adapted to be disengaged at will to disconnect said steering meansfrom said hydraulic motor systems.

7. A hydraulic steering mechanism comprising in combination a pair ofhydraulic motor systems, reversible pumping means for selectivelysupplying actuating fluid to either of said motor systems, control meanscontrolling said pumping means, crossheads arranged to move in a path oneither side of the rudder shaft and respectively connected to saidhydraulic motor systems to be actuated thereby, a toothed quadrantmounted for rotation on said rudder shaft and having oppositely directeddetachable rod-like projections mounted for combined swinging andsliding movement in said cross heads, disengageable means connectingsaid projections to said quadrant, a steering arm fixed on said ruddershaft and projecting radially therefrom, springs connecting said armWith points of said quadrant located on either side of said ruddershaft, and hand operated emergency steering gear, comprising a pinionnormally disengaged from said toothed quadrant but adapted to be engagedtherewith at will for effecting control of the rudder after saidrod-like projections have been disconnected from said toothed quadrant.

PIETER JACOBUS N OORDEMAN References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,056,194 Martineau Mar. 18, 19131,093,086 Thomson Apr. 14, 1914; 1,485,183 Hammond Feb. 26, 19241,852,151 Dean Apr. 5, 1932 1,917,528 Kuzelewski July 11, 1933

